iPhone 4S vs iPhone 4: Hardware, Pricing, Carriers

As expected, Apple announced a new iPhone today, only it wasn’t the iPhone 5 that many had been expecting. Instead, the company announced the iPhone 4S: an upgraded version of the iPhone 4 to go along with its new iOS 5 software. And while a few of you may be disappointed with Apple just rehashing its old design, there is actually a lot of new here.

From the iPhone 4S’ new camera to its dual-core processor, to its improved antenna and its faster network speeds, as well as to its world phone capabilities which provides support for both GSM and CDMA, there are plenty of new additions that make the iPhone 4S a lot more attractive than its predecessor.

And that’s just the hardware, but let’s start with that.

Hardware

Features

iPhone 4S

iPhone 4

Weight and Dimensions

Height: 4.5 inches (115.2 mm)

Width: 2.31 inches (58.6 mm)

Depth: 0.37 inch (9.3 mm)

Weight: 4.9 ounces (140 grams)

Height: 4.5 inches (115.2 mm)

Width: 2.31 inches (58.6 mm)

Depth: 0.37 inch (9.3 mm)

Weight: 4.8 ounces (137 grams)

Camera

8 megapixels

Autofocus

Tap to focus

LED flash

Backside illumination sensor

Five-element lens

Face detection

Front camera with VGA resolution

5 megapixels

Autofocus

Tap to focus

LED flash

Backside illumination sensor

Four-element lens

Front camera with VGA resolution

Video Recording

Improved HD video recording

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1080p 30 fps

Tap to focus while recording

LED light

Video stabilization

HD video recording

720p 30 fps

Tap to focus while recording

LED light

Display

High-resolution Retina display

960-by-640 resolution

326 ppi

Multi-Touch

High-resolution Retina display

960-by-640 resolution

326 ppi

Multi-Touch

Cellular and Wireless

UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA

GSM/EDGE

CDMA EV-DO Rev. A2

Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n

Bluetooth 4.0

GSM model: UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA

GSM/EDGE

CDMA model: CDMA EV-DO Rev. A

Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n

Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR

Battery Life

Talk time:

Up to 8 hours on 3G

Up to 14 hours on 2G (GSM)

Standby time:

Up to 200 hours

Talk time:

Up to 7 hours on 3G

Up to 14 hours on 2G (GSM)

Standby time:

Up to 300 hours

Carriers

As many of you know, this iPhone launch will hit not one, not two, but three U.S. carriers: AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. T-Mobile was unfortunately left out, officially, this go round.

However, the iPhone 4S will not be the only iPhone headed to Sprint. In fact, the carrier will also be getting the iPhone 4. So yes, the iPhone 4 – Apple’s last-gen device – will be available on three carriers just like its successor, the iPhone 4S.

Pricing

Unfortunately, specific carrier pricing, if there is any, has not been revealed so we’re just going to go off of what Apple has laid out for us. The iPhone 4S is going to be available in three different models on both AT&T, Sprint and Verizon and the pricing should look like this when it arrives on October 14th:

$199 16GB

$299 32GB

$399 64GB

As for the iPhone 4, it will only be available in 8GB form and it will cost a mere $99 on contract.

Now, there is also a possibility that Sprint might charge a premium for unlimited data but it’s my opinion that it will likely just jack up its data plan prices rather than mess with Apple’s pricing scale.

Software

Hardware isn’t the biggest difference between the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 4. One of the biggest differences actually lies in the software. While the iPhone 4S will be getting the powerful Siri assistant voice control tool. The iPhone 4 will not get seeing it when iOS 5 arrives on October 12th.

Apple can’t make every announcement “epic”! Who would want to when your already on top of the world! As usual we all left our expectations significantly higher than apple could produce. There’s more to come out of this giant tho, and I’m sure we will all be there to buy whatever it is

I have the iPhone 4 with AT&T&. I’d like to upgrade to the iPhone 4s but I have to wait until October 2012 unless I pay a much higher price now.
Why?? AT&T will still get my monthly cell phone business. It really sucks.